Moonshine Meltdown, Part 1
by SGT. Zachary Cribb
Summary: It all started when Crash found Dr. Cortex unconscious in the bottom floor of his castle. But further investigations will uncover the truth about what Dr. Cortex is doing instead of trying to take over the world.


Moonshine Meltdown, Part 1.

By Zachary Cribb

(This story is told from Crash Bandicoot's point of view.)

I decided to go and pay Dr. Cortex a visit at his castle. I had been concerned about him recently, as I hadn't seen him in over a month.

As soon as I got out of my truck, I walked to the door, and knocked on it.

**Dr. Cortex?! It's me, Crash! I came here to see ya! Are ya home?! **

I knocked again. No answer.

**Dr. Cortex?! Are you there?! Hello?!**

I knocked again. Still no answer.

At that very moment, my bandi-sense kicked in and I felt as if something were wrong.

So, I quickly backed up, ran towards the door and with all my strength, smashed it down.

I then called out to Cortex too see if he would respond.

**Dr. Cortex?! Neo?! It's me, Crash Bandicoot! Call out if you can-**

I looked down and before me, I saw Dr. Cortex on the floor, face down, unconscious.

**OH LORD!**

I quickly bent down to see if he was alright. I checked his pulse, which was very weak.

I then leaned over towards his face to check his breathing. He was barely breathing.

I quickly got out my phone and dialed 911.

**C'mon Cortex, don't die on me! **

_Wumpa Island 911 Dispatch? _

_**I need an ambulance at Cortex Castle now. I've got someone in here unconscious with a weak pulse and they're barely breathing! **_

_You said Cortex Castle, right? _

_**Yes ma'am, I did. Tell 'em to step on it and get here quickly, I don't know how much more this guy can take! **_

_Okay, we'll get paramedics down there right away. _

I started praying and asking God to let Cortex live, even though Cortex convinced himself to be my sworn enemy all those years ago.

About 3 minutes later, I heard ambulance sirens in the distance. The ambulance slammed on it's brakes about 20 feet from the door and the paramedics jumped out and ran to where we were.

We loaded him in and headed to Sand Dune City Memorial Hospital, which was the closest hospital near Cortex Castle.

Apon arrival, I got out and helped them get Cortex out and onto the stretcher. I then followed them into the E.R., and right as we got past the security desk, the heart-monitor went flat and one of the paramedics started chest compressions in order to get Cortex's heart going again.

I didn't leave until Dr. Cortex was stable. (I couldn't just let him lay in his castle and die.)

About a half-hour later, Dr. Chambers walked to where I was sitting.

**How is he Dr. Chambers? **

_**Not good lad. We can't really figure out what's got him in a pickle right now. **_

**Has he had a C.T.-Scan? **

_**Nye, not yet. But we're about to take him up to the second floor to do so. **_

**May I observe this? **

_**Aye, sure lad. Right this way. **_

I followed Dr. Chambers to the Scanning room on the second floor to see what was going on.

As soon as the C.T.-Scan was finished, we got the results and Dr. Chambers had a concerned look on his face.

_**That isn't looking to good.**_

**What is it Dr. Chambers? **

_**Look at this. One of his arteries are damaged and his lungs are inflamed. We're gonna need to do surgery on him within the next 72 hours. **_

Dr. Cortex underwent surgery about an hour later. They worked hard on him for 6 hours straight, non-stop.

I sat in the waiting room, praying and thinking while the doctors operated on him.

After they finished, Dr. Chambers came out, still with his gear on, partially covered in blood and other fluids.

He had a quiet look on his face as he walked up to me.

**Well Dr. Chambers? **

_**We we're able to fix 'em up real good.**_

**Phew! Thanks Doc! **

_**Aye, no problem lad. **_

**So, what in all did y'all do to him? **

_**Well, we fixed up his artery and removed the gunk from it that damaged it. After that, we took a look at his lungs and got to work. However, his right lung took a-lot of damage, and we weren't able to fix it, so we replaced his right lung with another right lung from a donor that's registered on our organ donor network. If he were to wake up now, he'd still have trouble getting air into his lungs, and her would probably be in a lot of pain, so we inserted an I.V. tube hooked to a morphine-drip system. Aside from that, he's going to be in a medically-induced-coma for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. **_

**Ah, I see. **

_**But also from that, we found another problem. This kind we couldn't fix. **_

**(My stomach soured when I heard those words.) **

**Huh? What's the problem? **

_**To put it in the simplest way I know to say it lad, 61% of his blood is contaminated with some kind of poison. We are confident that the poison in his blood is alcohol poisoning, but at this time, we're not sure. He'll need a blood transfusion as soon as poss-**_

**I'll do it. **

_**Are ya sure lad? **_

**Yes sir, I'll give as much blood as he needs.**

_**Well first, what's your blood type? **_

**O-Negative. **

_**Aye, you're what they call a universal donor! That'll work just fine, since Cortex has the same blood type. **_

I signed the consent forms and started giving blood. Dr. Chambers gave me a pill that would help me regenerate blood.

After about 3 hours, I fell asleep.

I didn't realize this, but I sleep through-out the rest of that day at the hospital.

I woke up feeling weak, but I knew that the pill I took would help me regenerate blood.

Dr. Chambers walked up to me.

_**Aye lad, we got all the blood we needed. That pill I gave you yesterday will help you regenerate your blood. **_

**Yesterday? **

_**Aye, that's right, you've been here since yesterday. You got weak while you were giving blood. It's common when you have to give high amounts. **_

**Is Cortex all right? **

_**He sure is. He's still in that medically-induced-coma. His body is healing up just fine. **_

**Thank God. **

_**Aye, I agree with ya lad. If it weren't for God's mercy, that poor soul would have been lost. **_

**I know. **

I got up, signed some papers, and hitched a ride to Cortex's castle, where I got my truck, and then headed home.

-To be continued-


End file.
